She's stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow
by OnceUponAPenname
Summary: There are only a few things that Maria Hill can handle. Working for a secret governemental compagny. Check. Being the unknown daughter of an imbecile who believed that the Hulk would make a great weapon. Check. Preventing an alien invasion was not on her list of things-to-do, this morning. Rated T because of Sir Anthony Stark.
1. prologue

**A/N : ****Hello fellow geeks and nerds ! As you can see, I'm new on Fanfiction and this is my first fanfiction *Yip!* Moreover, it's not just _a _fanfiction : it's an_ Avengers_ fanfiction. It's an idea I've had since the movie came out two years ago, but I didn't know if it was a good idea to start one because there are so many characters and I love each of these characters to death but there are some that I will not try to write - Black Widow - because of their complexity. And Marvel is such a big universe, you'll see some comic references. So yeah, I don't want the characters to be too O.C, so I'll be careful with that. **

**Basically this is the _Avengers _movie in Hill's P.O.V, because I wanted to focuse on her, but the point-of-view will eventually change through chapters. Mostly, it'll be Maria, Steve and Bruce. It won't be longer than ten chapters, I think - started writing the fifth chapter this morning - and will definitely have sequels. What can I say ? My imagination is that big ! **

**It'll follow the _Avengers, Captain America, Agents of _S.H.I.E.L.D storylines.**

**SUMMARY : **_It's S.H.I.E.L.D. They hide a lot of things. People weren't who they pretended to be. No one should be surprised anymore. Especially if they decided that the best way to save the world was a misfit group of superheroes. However, there's only a few things that Maria Hill can handle. Working for a secret governemental compagny. Check. Being the unknown daughter of an imbecile who believed that the Hulk was a good weapon. Check. An alien invasion was not on her list, this monday._

**Rated T for language and mild violence (pratically inexistant)**

**I do not own the _Avengers, _but I thank God - Stan Lee - in each of my prayers for its existence.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>"She's stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow."<strong>_

_**by **_**OnceUponAPenname.**

**- _Prologue -_**

* * *

><p><strong>MIDTOWN MANHATTAN<strong>

**NEW YORK**

New York City. Maria didn't see the appeal others did. And she lived in the city. Sure, it was a nice place. Loud. Crowded. Awake. Sure, it had its benefits. Shops at every street. Thick crowd to get lost in. Long avenues where she could walk and think without paying attention to another person. Its sights, museums and historical monuments. The new _Stark _tower might become own, the brunette thought, glancing up at the freshly finished batiment through her dark fangs.

The one problem she had with the city, so far, was its inhabitants. Loud. Rude. All and always seeming to be in a rush. Not that the young woman minded. It reminded her of Chicago, in some way. Maybe if she wasn't used to it, she'd mind.

Maria took a long sip of coffee as her phone started buzzing in her back pocket. Knowing she couldn't stop without being pushed around by others, she let it buzz, trying to found a quiet place. Uh, more like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Groaning in annoyance, she took the device out to find out that she had a new message. Quickly taping against the screen, her lips quirked up at she read the text:

_'Rumor has it that my little sister is in the Big Apple. Jr texted me yesterday, saying that he was trying to win back. Who knew guys talked that much?'_

**'I suppose the rumor doesn't say that he finished at the hospital with the several stitches in his hand – which had found its way on my behind – after I stuck my fork into it. And I knew it. B. talked that much.'**

_'Maybe. So I guess you're on a break since you're talking to me?'_

Maria couldn't help the wave of guilt as she read the words. Sentiment that she didn't feel that often.

She wasn't payed to feel. Quite the opposite, actually. As she started compozing a response, her phone locked itself before unlocking again, a red alert sign appearing on the screen. The brunette sighed, brushed back her hair, clicking a few times on the sign before it finally dissapeared.

**'Not anymore, Be-**

Too busy writing to be aware of her surroundings, she suddenly ran into someone. Cue flying coffee cup. Cue stained white shirt. And then, Maria remembered why she, most of the time, hated New York City. Crowds. Arrogants pedestrians not paying attention to the world around them. _New Yorkers. _She started cursing, quickly putting her black-brownish hair into a ponytail and completely ignoring the Cause Of The Accident. Well, she ignored _it_ until _he_ started talking:

"I am _so _sorry, I wasn't looking. Are you okay? I hope it wasn't hot."

She looked up to stare him. Maria knew _she _was the one not looking. Or was she? How was she supposed to know? She wasn't looking. The brunette took her time to look at the man in front of her. He was taller and stronger that her, that was for of his arms seemed to be the double size of one of hers, at least. He had blond hair and deep blue eyes, was wearing a simple white shirt and jean, a brown leather jacket.

Noticing her staring, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, obviously looking for something while keeping to apologize:

"I'm truly sorry, ma'am, I-"

" _'Ma'am?'" _Maria interrupted, cocking an eyebrow "Seriously, how _old _do think I am? If anything you're older than me."

"Sorry." he repeated, wincing. "For that, too. Uh-, I can replace if you want, just tell me what you ordered and I'll buy it."

Uh. Weird. Were _New Yorkers nice_? Nope, that was a well-known fact. And they didn't stop to offer to replace your coffee after they previously spilled it on you. Even so, that was definitely a Brooklyn accent she heard in his voice as he apologized to her. Despite his nice attitude, she couldn't help but snap at him:

"Buy me a new coffee? So what, you can dump it on me too? No,_ thank you_."

At least she had stayed polite. Kinda. She threw her empty cup into a trash nearby and walked away, not paying to the tall and muscular blonde man. Maria quickly wrote a reply to her sister before composing a number and bringing the device to her ear. After a few seconds of wait, she heard a familiar male voice pick up:

"Coulson."

"I need someone to pick me up."

"What time?"

"In half hour, tops. I need to change, some moron made me spill my coffee."

"Roger that, Hill."

Maria was half-amused, half-annoyed when she heard the, bearly, repressed laughter in his voice. She hung up and started walking toward her apartment, hands stuffed in her pockets as Steve Rogers sat at a café, trying to forget the strange encounter he'd had with a stranger dark-haired woman.

**S.H.I.E.L.D PROJECT P.E.G.A.S.U.S FACILITY**

**NEW MEXICO**

As the helicopter slowly lowered down to the landing pad, Maria watched, her jaw clenched in concern and frustration, as men and women evacuated the building in a state of panic. Landing, the brunette could also a man in a suit, standing a few yards from the landing pad. A small smile formed itself on her lips as she recognized Phil Coulson, standing tall and proud, sunglasses on his nose even though night had fallen.

She got out of the chopper, quickly followed by Fury. Both of them approached the agent, Fury slightly yelling over the noise made by the helicopter as he asked

"How bad is it?"

"That's the problem, sir." he answered, shaking his head "We don't know."

Maria and Fury exchanged a look before following Coulson into the facility. As they walked through the radiation section, the young woman watched as hundred of technicians rassembling their stuff before running out of the building. Still walking, Phil started talking, again:

"Dr Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago."

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase." The director retorted, frowning.

"He wasn't testing it. He wasn't even in the room" he explained "Spontaneous advancement."

"It just turned itself on?" the brunette asked, crossing her arms.

Her face was stoic, professional, as usual and if she was with someone else than these two men, the concern in her voice wouldn't have been heard. Both of them chose to ignore it while Maria silently hoped that it wasn't bas as it sounded.

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury asked.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac."

"How long to get everyone out?"

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour." he replied.

"Do better." he ordered in his emotionless voice.

Coulson quickly nodded before turning around and walking away as both of them continued walked toward the radiation facility floor. Ignoring the psychological fight raging inside of her brain, Maria took a deep breath before saying:

"Sir, evacuation may be futile."

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" He retorted, her words reaching deaf ears.

"If we can't control the Tesseract energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance." The young woman persisted.

"I need you to make sure that PHASE 2 prototypes are shipped out."

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?"

The SHIELD director stopped his tracks to stare at her with his one good eye. If she looked close enough and listened carefully, Maria would probably hear him growl and see smoke coming out of his ears.

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of PHASE 2 on a truck and gone."

She restrained a sigh and glared up as she heard a snicker coming from higher grounds._Stupid Hawk._ She clenched her jaw before erasing any human expressions from her face and saying, in a monotone voice, almost robotic:

"Yes, sir."

As she walked toward some agents, Maria indicated them to follow her with a nod and quick hand gesture. Sure enough, both of them followed her without any discussion as they descended a few floors. When the brunette and her escorts arrived in front of a reinforced door. She quickly unlocked it by taping on an eletronical tablet.

Entering the floor, the young woman noticed that this floor was as active as the radiation facility one. People obviously had the order to lock and evacuate everything before she did. In a corner, she could see a blonde woman standing. Unlike others around her, she was wearing a white coat lab and had a pair of glasses perched over her blonde loosed hair. Frowing her eyebrows, she called:

"Bobbi?"

Barbara – Bobbi – Morse a.k.a Agent 19 looked up when she heard the call of her name. She let out a sigh of relief when her blue eyes found Maria's brown eyes and started walking toward her. Her not-so-long coat lab was short enough that the brunette could see Bobbi was wearing a knee-length black skirt, hugging her thighs and a white blouse. Her heels clicked on the floor as she got closer.

"Maria, what the hell is going on?"

" _'What the hell is going on?', _what are _you _doing done here? How did you even got in?" Maria retorted, cocking an eyebrow and crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm good with computers, whatever. That's not important. What _is _important why Sitwell came in earlier, ordering us to pack everything and told us to evacuing the building."

Maria was about to retort when, suddenly, the facility was shaken by a wave of energy. _The Tesseract_, she thought worriedly as she looked up. She was brought out of her thoughts when Bobbi said:

"Now, that, don't tell me nothing, cuz' _that _was something."

Her brown eyes hardened as she stared down at the blond and slipped into her Deputy Director persona, saying:

"This isn't of your concern, Agent 19. Being a level 6 agent and a bio-chemist, your presence, down here, is unrequired and unauthorized. So you should followed orders, not defy your superiors nor hack into classified levels and evacuate the building as everyone else. Am I being clear, Morse?"

Scowling, the blonde swallowed her protest and muttered as she turned on her heels."

"Crystal, Deputy."

Maria ignored the young woman and looked around. They were too busy locking weapons away to pay attention to her. The brunette turned to face the two agents who had accompagnied her down. One of them had dissapeared to help his fellow colleagues while the other was still standing behind her, looking useless. She rolled her eyes, shot a quick look at her watch before yelling:

"WE DON'T HAVE ANYTIME TO STAND AROUND AND SMELL THE ROSES, PEOPLE! If you aren't doing anything, OUT! If weapons and files are locked, go down to the bunker to load the cases. This is an _evacuation_, not a freakin' break or recess."

She didn't wait for a reply before going down to the parking lot herself. To her relief, the few agents, there, seemed to be working actively. A young man stopped his work at her appearance. He closed the car and turned toward Maria, standing straight and putting his hands behind his back.

"Deputy."

"Ashton. How many vehicules are fulled?" She asked with a nod, adknowledging his greeting.

"So far, we have ten of them good to go, ma'am."

"Good."

As the young brunette turned around to leave, she saw Clint Barton a.k.a _Hawkeye _walking toward them, followed by Selvig, a few persons she recognized and a man she had never seen before. She frowned as Clint sai-, no, _ordered_ as he pointed toward himself and people around him:

"Need these vehicules"

He didn't wait for a reply before going toward the car, the tall and dark-haired stranger looking at her with a strange curiosty. Frowning, Maria wondered:

"Who's that?"

"He didn't tell me."

_Liar. _She started walking away, still eyeing the strange team of the marksman, as her walkie started to crackle. That was when all hell broke loose. Litteraly. Cue gunshots. Cue dangerous car chases. Cue more shootings. Cue car wobbling, almost barreling. Cue behind sandwiched into a crushed car by a collapsing tunnel.

Maria groaned as she kicked the door opened. The walkie started crackling again, voices shouting:

"Director? Director Fury, do you copy?" _Coulson._

"The Tesseract is with the hostile. I have men down. Hill?" _Fury._

Pushing herself out, then up, she hook her walkie off of her belt and answered:

"A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors."

Even if she knew, she would pretend to ignore it. She didn't want to know that kind of details. Especially if those deaths were caused by agents.

"Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."

"Roger that." The brunette quickly replied.

"Coulson, get back to base. This is level 7." She could hear the older man inhale before he continued "As of right now, we are at war."

A beat.

"What do we do?" Coulson finally asked what they were all wondering.

But as of right now, nobody had an answer to give him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : First of all, if you're reading this, I'd like to thank and congralute you for not stopping your reading. Secondly, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review ! Your thoughts are more than important to me !**

**Ok, bye!**


	2. struggling to make things right

**A/N : A humongous thank you to those who bothered to click on this fanfic, read, follow and comment it! As a struggling writer, it means a lot to me and it inspires me to continue this story, to satisfy you ! Because, honestly, if people weren't reading this, I wouldn't bother writing. So thank you.**

**Without further ado, here's the first chapter of **_She's stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow_

**Bruce's P.O.V**

* * *

><p><strong>"<em>She's stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow."<em>**

**_by _OnceUponAPenname**

_**- Chapter one - "Struggling to make things right"**_

* * *

><p><strong>HELICARRIER LANDING STRIP<strong>

Dr Bruce Banner wanted to bolt the second the small plane - called Quinjet by Romanoff and others SHIELD agents – landed. People around him were too busy to notice him. The one who did notice him either stare in fear and glare in anger. Either way, they kept their distance from him and he kept his distance from them. He should've stayed in India. He could have. He was the Hulk after all. A weapon. A massive killing machine. The doctor shook his head, trying to keep the voices away. Voices that sounded a lot like General 'Thunderbolt' Ross. The irony.

Romanoff had left him, walking away with no explanation and he really didn't care. He knew he had scared her, earlier. He hadn't really care either. Yet, he did care. She had been bold, daring even though she knew he was prompt to turn into the Other Guy as he nicknamed him. She had reminded him of Betty. But no matter how brave Natasha Romanoff may have seemed, she didn't trust him. She wasn't Betty Ross. And he liked to think that Elizabeth 'Betty' Ross trusted _him. _Bruce _and _the Other was when he his realized that he didn't care about Agent Natasha Romanoff or any persons he might recountered during his stay.

So here he stood, nervously playing with his hands and moving around as he tried to avoid people walking in his way and him walking in their. He heard them before seeing them. Two persons. One unknown male, one familiar female. They were talking about... _trading cards_?

"Dr. Banner." The unknown male called.

Bruce looked up to see one tall and muscular blonde man walking toward him, Romanoff trailing behind him. The scientist quickly recognized the blue-eyed blonde man as Captain Steven Rogers, the only successful subject who had been injected with the serum in the 1940s. He prefered to see him as a subject than an actual person. It was easier. He only had a few seconds to calm himself as Steve came closer, a hand outstretched.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming." Bruce simply said.

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word about me?" He asked, the ghost of a sarcastic smirk on his face.

"Only word I care about." Steve simply replied.

Bruce hummed as Steve looked at him, smirking slightly. He didn't seemed to care. The super-soldier didn't pay him much attention before turning around and looking around the bridge, obviously impressed. _A little talk wouldn't hurt_, thought the gamma-expert.

"Must be strange for you, all of this."

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." The blonde man replied, stuffing his hands in his pocket

_Military background, right_ Bruce reminded himself with a nod. The redhead agent chose this moment to approach the two men. Well, she approached Steve. He just happened to be standing next to him.

"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath."

As those words were spoken, the Helicarrier started to shake and workers started to strap the small plans onto the bridge and ran around an as the motors and engines were turned on. Still impressed and a little bit curious, Steve started walking toward the edge and asked:

"Is this is a submarine?"

_I highly doubt it _"Really?" Bruce scoffed "They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container."

As they both stood near to the edge, four huges lift vans appeared from the sides and the Helicarrier started to elevate in the air. Steve kept watching in awe as Bruce sarcastically smiled and yelled over the noise:

"OH NO, THIS IS MUCH WORSE!"

**INT. HELICARRIER BRIDGE.**

**IN THE AIR.**

Both Steve and Bruce followed Natasha into the aircraft, drinking in awe everything around them. Agents with matching outfits were moving around, computers lined up and people shouting things at each ocher in the chaos and noise, and somehow, understanding each other. The deadly ginger beauty turned to them, an amused smile on her lips as she watched them. Steve looked like a little kid in a toy store, eyes wide ans mouth open while Bruce tried not to touch anything or attract attention to himself, avoiding any forms of autority.

"-All engines operating. S.H.I.E.L.D emergency protocol 193.6 in affect." A tall brunette ordered around her, which made nosense to the doctor but others seemed to understand "We are at lock, sir." she added, turning to a dark-skinned eye-patched man.

"Good. Let's vanish." The man he knew as Nick Fury simply said.

As the brunette, not facing him, kept shouting orders as Nick Fury stepped down of his pad, with a simple:

"Gentlemen."

Bruce frowned when Steve slipped a 10-dollar bill into the SHIELD director's hand, the former not looking at him, still in awe. The dark-brownish haired woman, standing next to him, eyed strangely, almost imitating the doctor's facial expression. And that was when Bruce finally realized that he knew the young woman. He knew this dark-haired and brown haired woman he already knew years ago. Except that her then-playful brown eyes were now, cold and her dark hair were up in a perfect bun.

"Doctor." Fury called, bringing the attention to him "Thanks for coming."

Her brown eyes met his for a few seconds before she bowed her head, breaking the small exchange. Bruce cleared his throat before turning to the dark-skinned man and said:

"Thanks for asking so nicely. So, uh.. How long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

Even though he didn't believe he'd ever be in the clear with any authority, he nodded and wondered:

"Where are you with that?"

He turned to a man wearing a suit – who seemed to have appeared from nowhere – and waited for him to continue. Natasha, not seeming to be interested, bent down to examine something on the screens nearby. The suit-wearing man – Agent Phil Coulson, he learned earlier – cleared his throat and said:

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Natasha protested, paying attention after all, as she looked up."

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectometers do you have access to?" And as he asked that, Bruce could swore he saw the hint of a smile on the brunette's lips.

"How many are there?" Fury inquired.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least, we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Bruce was aware that most of them hadn't understand a word he had just said, but they didn't dare to cross him. He restrained a snicker as they exchanged a few glances. Fury finally said:

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please."

The redhead straightened and nodded as she passed him by, asking him mutely to follow him. He did. But before that, Bruce turned toward the tall dark-haired woman and said:

"It's good to see you, Maria."

Both agents, supersoldier and directors looked at the brunette as she sighed and looked at him with a small smile, replying.

"You too, Bruce."

The doctor returned the smile and followed Natasha as the latter broke the silence, saying:

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

**IN THE HELICARRIER LAB,**

**IN THE AIR.**

Bruce was playing with a pen between his fingers, twirling in his chair. He had the lab all by himself. Not that they trusted him to be alone, no. The lab was guarded by two armed agents. The gamma expert scoffed as he thought about it. As if it was going to change something if he turned into a 8 feet green raging monster.

He heard a _'slush' _sound and looked up as the doors automatically opened. Bruce straightened when he saw Maria enter the room, a trail of food in her hands. Scowling, he asked in a sarcastic – sarcasm had become him – tone:

"You volunteer to feed the monster?"

The brunette scoffed as she sat beside him, placing the trail on a table. Crossing her legs and arms, she leaned against the back of her chair.

"Don't be a martyr, Bruce. Nobody likes them."

"I thought nobody likes smartasses." He muttered.

"That too." she said, playing with the hem of her shirt.

Bruce watched her carefully, tilting his head to the side. Gone was the rebellious teenager who helped him sneak into her house, hiding him away from her father and him helping her with scientific homeworks while waiting for her sister. Caughting his glance, she smiled and asked, frowning:

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Just... wondering how's life."

"Right" the brunette scoffed "You just want to hear about Betty."

He tried to wince at the name, but he could see that Maria had noticed. So, he grabbed a triangle sandwich and bit into it, not wondering if something had been slipped into for the first time since he returned. He swallowed the food, before saying again:

"No, seriously. I was wondering how little Mariana Ross had evolved into... _this."_

"Well, ain't you flattering! And it's Maria Hill, now. Mariana _Ross _seemed so wrong." Maria was the one to wince this time.

"I bet."

A silence fell into the lab, interrupted by crunching and slurping every thirty seconds. Still not looking up, the brunette muttered:

"You shouldn't have come, B. You could have say no."

"I thought about it." The doctor said. "But then, again, I didn't really have a choice."

"You do realize that your presence, here, is already getting you in trouble. And I'm not talking about SHIELD people or FBI agents. I-"

"_Mari_a!" Bruce interrupted, making the dark-haired woman looking up at him. "I _know._ And I don't worry about it for now. I'm just here to do my job, and hopefully, I'll do it quickly so I can get out of here. But" the doctor shot a look at his watch before adding "It's pretty late. I think I deserve a break. Sooo, _Maria... _How's life?"

A rare smile appeared on her lips as Maria reached to grab the apple resting on the food trail and bit into it. Bruce grinned as he leaned back into his chair, bringing the other half of his sandwich in his mouth. Between bits, both of them exchanged a few words, laughed when needed, not bothered by the occasionals silences. Maybe he didn't regret coming out of hiding that much.

* * *

><p><strong>TBC.<strong>


	3. all her life, she's been told

**A/N : Finally, third chapter! So sorry for the late update, I'm in the middle of my senior year, which means lot of work and little time to write to my misery. So here it is, peeps!**

* * *

><p><strong>"<em>She's stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow."<em>**

**_by _OnceUponAPenname**

_**- Chapter two - "All her life, she's been told : she'll be nothing when she's old." **_

* * *

><p><strong>MARIA'S P.O.V<strong>

**INT. HELICARRIER BRIDGE.**

**IN THE AIR. **

"It's good to see you, Maria."

Maria froze as she felt all pair of eyes settle on her. She had noticed _him _as soon as _he _stepped into the helicarrier, but she was too busy trying to ignore and program/coordinate the take-off of the _freaking _aircraft they were currently in to acknowledge him. The dark-haired woman swallowed the lump in her throat, slowly turned around and replied, a small smile appearing on her face:

"You too, Bruce."

The doctor returned it, hesitating, before following the deadly redhead. At they got out, Maria let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, still feeling pairs of eyes on her person. Fury was the first to react:

"I hope we won't have any issues considering Dr. Banner, Hill."

"No, we won't, sir." The young woman deadpanned, turning toward her superior.

"Good. I expect you to work along. And please, brief Agent 19 before sending her to assist the doctor."

"Yes, s- wait, _what?!" _Maria quickly interrupted herself, staring at the director in disbelief. "With all due respect, sir, agent Morse's status doesn't allow her to work on this nor to assist Banner. She's a level 6 bio-chemist and-"

"And she is the best we have." Fury was the one to interrupt her, this time, glaring at her with his one-good eye. "We need everyone on this. And about 19's status, you might want to check you the lastest upgrades, deputy."

The dark-skinned man turned around and left before she couldn't retort or protest. Maria groaned, grumbling under her breath. _Great. _She had to ask for help after she had played _Bitchy Deputy _earlier. Well, she wasn't really-

"_Wait._" A male and familiar interrupted her train of thoughts. She turned her head and her brown eyes met the blue gaze of the tall and muscular blonde man. "I know you."

"Of course you know me, _Einstein." _she retorted in an irritated tone, cocking an eyebrow. "You made me dump my coffee all over myself. That's not something you forget easily."

"You mean, _Latte Moron _is _freakin' _Captain America?" Coulson muttered, then blushed red when the blonde turned to stare at him, his eyebrows frowned in confusion at the nickname.

"No, I mean _Captain America_ is a _freakin'_ Latte Moron" she corrected, both of her eyebrow hiding behind her dark bangs.

And imitating her boss, she turned around, not allowing them to retort as she hid a small smirk and walked toward senior agent Avery, the older man looking up and smiling as he heard approach. He drawled, his voice laced with a heavy southern accent

"Well, hello, suga'. Wha' new with ya?"

Her smile became more genuine. Kenneth – Ken – Avery was one of the only persons working for S.H.I. she actually liked. Along with Phil, she had become someone she looked up to, a faternal figure – 'cuz' God knew she needed a faternal figure. Her '_father'_ sucked. She sighed and answered, with a shrug of her shoulder:

"Nothing much, just trying to safe the world."

"HA! Ain't ya modest!"

"I don't need to be modest, just realistic." Maria retorted with a smirk. "Anyway, do you have any idea where the hell Sitwell disappeared? I need to go check on our Lab Rats and Coulson is too starstruck by the ol' Captain over there to watch over the bridge."

"Respect ya' elders, lass!" Avery let out a booming laugh. "And I'm pretta sure baldie is hangin' with Boss Man. But I could watch over, if ya want to."

Maria grinned at him instead of replying and started walking toward the labs, shouting a _thank you _as the doors closed behind her.

**IN THE HELICARRIER LAB,**

**IN THE AIR.**

Maria quickly walked toward the scientific part of the aircraft, greeting the few agents she met on her way. As she got closer to the labs, she could see Bruce examing the gadgets at his disposal and setting his own. The brunette allowed herself a small smile as she watched the gamma expert observing his surroundings in awe.

"Deputy Hill." A male voice called her.

The young woman turned her head to see a grey-bearded man and white lab cot wearing, walking toward her. She smiled as she greeted him:

"Dr Maclain, how are the updates on Mr. Rogers' suit coming?"

"Oh, the suit is over. However, the re-creation of our Captain's shield is quite the struggle, but I don't want to bore you with the scientific details, Deputy. "

They shared a laugh that quickly a few seconds of silence, the scientist glanced over her shoulder, where she knew Bruce was already working, before wondering aloud:

"We might have a chance after all, huh?"

The dark-haired woman nodded before walking into the hive-lookalike lab. Despite the chaos, Maria immediately spotted the blonde head of Bobbi Morse. She took a deep breath before making her way over. The younger woman looked up at her arrival, goggles over her blue eyes and blonde hair in a ponytail.

"Deputy." she spat.

"19. What do we got?" Maria asked, her tone wary.

"Classified."she deadpanned.

"_Bobbi_" she stressed out the woman's nickname, feeling a headache coming on.

"Okay, I get that Asgardian gods – or aliens, _whatever – _invading the planet and turning people into aliens-puppets is stressful, but no one tells me what to or not to do. Except Fury, cuz he has one eye and that's _freakin' _scary. Not only the fact that he has one eye, but his name is _Fury. _Couldn't you have told me that Barton had been compromised and that today might be the end of the world?"

The blonde stopped rambling to breathe. Maria stared at the younger woman, unimpressed. She knew the biochemist and her temper. She had been expecting it. When Bobbi looked back at her, the fury in her eyes had been replaced by concern as she asked:

"Did we located them already?"

"No" she sighed "That's why I'm here. We need an extra pair of hands and that extra pair is _yours._"

"What do you need _me_ for?" The blonde asked, hesitant.

"Banner's working on his own for now, but calls are being made to labs all around, so we can have all materials and informations at our disposal. However, most of these labs are suspicious of govermental agencies that no one heard of, so... We need the best hacker we've got. You know, just in case." Maria quickly explained.

" '_Hacking'_ is such an ugly word." The scientist retorted, wrinkling her nose, as if she was disgusted just by saying it "It's more like borrowing intel without permission. I'm not even keeping it for my-_wait" _Stopping her own babbling, Bobbi turned toward Maria, eyes wide-opened. "_Banner? _As in Dr Bruce Banner, gamma expert, workshipped by FitzSimmons? That Bruce Banner?"

"Who the hell is FitzSimmons?" The dark-brownish haired woman asked, frowning her eyebrows.

She waved it off and kept staring at her, waiting for an answer to her previous question. Maria sighed, not knowing what to expect after she'd reply. Yes, the blonde woman didn't seemed interested in working with the Hulk nor did she seemed to fear him. At the very least, Bobbi seemed eager to work with Dr Bruce Banner. Still.

Taking a deep breath, she faked a smirk as she said:

"Yes, _that _Banner. Think that you can handle it, Morse?"

…

"Hell, _yeah!_"

As she left Bobbi with Bruce, making sure that neither of them were uncomfortable working with each other, Maria started walking back toward the bridge of the aircraft. Tired, she let her hair out of her tight bun and wrapped it again in a loose ponytail. The aircraft was still sailing, calm overcoming the helicarrier as agents worked quietly and actively.

"Hi."

Silence broken by a deep familiar voice which made her jump. Not that she would admit it to anyone if they asked. Taking a few seconds to mask her emotions, she, then, turned around to face Captain America. The blond was his hands stuffed in his pockets and a small smile on his lips as he pushed himself from the wall he was leaning onto and started walking toward her to catch up. The brunette - unimpressed by the presence of the tall World War II soldier, unlike others – cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she asked:

"Do you need something?"

"Hum, no. Thanks. I was just trying walking, trying to find my way around here and I saw you."

"And you found it necessary to engage contact?" She retorted, her words dripping with sarcasm. Maria smirked when she saw him frown "Well, Captain, you'll quickly find out that I like to stay away from any civilization."

Then she turned away, her hair swinging as she walked. She gritted her teeth as she heard loud steps follow her. Steve quickly fell into step with the brunette woman and asked, casually:

"So, what do you do around here?"

Maria stopped again and turned to look at him. He had a small grin as he looked down at her. He didn't seem irritated by her behaviour. If anything, Steve was amused. Inwardly groaning, she started moving again and replied, through gritted teeth:

"I'm Fury's deputy. If anyone needs something, they come to me first. I'm in a charge of selectionning potential SHIELD agents and am the liaison between other govermental agencies. Among others things." The brunette explained when she saw him frown again.

"Oh, I know what a deputy is. You just seem so..._young._" The blonde retorted, hesitating on the last word."

"Says the the 20-something guy who became Captain within a _week._" She grumbled as they arrived to the bridge.

"Touché." Steve muttered.

As she walked in, Ken caught his eye and winked at her from the platform. Maria smiled at him and started moving toward the older man to replace him. Well, she intended to before she froze as Steve said:

"You don't like me."

Irritated, she spun around and spat, her jaw clenched:

"I don't know you! And our first meeting didn't leave a good first impression."

"You make me seem like the bad guy, here." The blonde retorted, crossing his arms. As she cocked an eyebrow, he added "You were the one texting when you ran into me. I was just being a gentleman when I admitted the fault."

"Well, sorry,_ Captain, _if I don't swoon and drool in your presence. I've got some respect for myself."

The brunette didn't let him the time to retort as she pratically ran to her platform, from where Avery was observing her with a knowing smirk. She rolled her brown eyes at him and asked as she noticed the file in his hands:

"What's that?"

" A gift from ol' Maclain. Tha updates on the lass' suit and shield wer' approved by the Board." He replied, handing the folder to the younger woman.

"Really? Wow, that was fast." Maria muttered to herself, quickly scanning it. Looking up, she nodded "Thanks, Avery."

He theatrically bowed before her as he left the platform. She watched as he left and her eyes settled on the pair Rogers/Coulson talking. She smirked as she watched a small blush forming on the older man's cheeks. She deflected her gaze as Steve turned his head and observed the other agents working, imitated by Fury a few feet away.

"We got a hit." Sitwell suddenly shouted. Maria started walking toward him, followed by Coulson, while his eyes stayed stuck to the screen in front of him. "Sixty-sevent percent match. Weight, cross match. Seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked, peering over her shoulder.

"Stuttgard, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." The bald-man answered

He typed, a few times, widening the image, so everyone could clearly see as the god/alien Loki strolling in the museum.

"Captain, you're up." Fury announced, turning to face the tall soldier.

Maria watched as he nodded, previous amusement gone from his face, and walked toward the locker rooms, where the dark-brownish haired woman knew his suit was disposed.

"Hill, make sure Romanoff is ready to take off." Fury ordered, not looking at her as he retreated to his office

"Yes, sir." she muttered before walking toward the taking-off pad.

Things were about to get interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>TBC.<strong>

**Reviews are love!**


End file.
